The Guardian
Campaigners attack Japan's 'shameful' climate plans release
Proposals criticised amid fears countries may use coronavirus crisis to rein in commitments
Japan has laid out its plans to tackle greenhouse gas emissions under the Paris agreement in the run-up to UN climate talks this year, becoming the first large economy to do so.
But its proposals were criticised by campaigners as grossly inadequate, amid fears the Covid-19 crisis could prompt countries to try to water down their climate commitments.
Continue reading...Builder aims to help UK construction industry kick its plastic habit
Neal Maxwell wants trade to go from 50,000 tonnes of plastic waste each year to zero by 2040
A builder from Merseyside has launched a project that aims to remove plastic from the British construction industry within two decades.
Neal Maxwell, who has worked in the trade for more than 30 years, co-founded the non-profit organisation Changing Streams after a trip to the Arctic.
Continue reading...Bolsonaro government thanked Johnson for Amazon fire support
UK prime minister’s refusal to criticise Amazon fires and sharp rise in deforestation praised by Brazilian ambassador
Boris Johnson was personally thanked by the Brazilian government for refusing to support European action over the Amazon fires, according to documents obtained by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
As the rainforest burned last summer – fuelled by a sharp rise in deforestation that critics blame partly on President Jair Bolsonaro’s agenda – Johnson criticised a threat by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, to block the EU’s Mercosur trade deal with Brazil.
Continue reading...Giant leap for toadkind after Yorkshire fell runs are cancelled
Activists say hundreds have been trampled by previous cross-country races near pond
The cancellation of a series of cross-country running races in West Yorkshire because of coronavirus has apparently saved hundreds of migrating toads from being squashed underfoot.
A toad protection group said hundreds of the amphibians have been trampled by fell runners in previous years.
Continue reading...'Probably the worst year in a century': the environmental toll of 2019
The annual Australia’s Environment report finds last year’s heat and drought caused unprecedented damage
Record heat and drought across Australia delivered the worst environmental conditions across the country since at least 2000, with river flows, tree cover and wildlife being hit on an “unprecedented scale”, according to a new report.
The index of environmental conditions in Australia scored 2019 at 0.8 out of 10 – the worst result across all the years analysed from 2000.
Continue reading...Endangered sea turtles hatch on Brazil's deserted beaches
Coronavirus keeps crowds that usually greet hatching of hawksbill turtles away
Nearly 100 critically endangered sea turtles have hatched on a deserted beach in Brazil, their first steps going almost unnoticed because of coronavirus restrictions that prohibit people from gathering on the region’s sands.
The 97 hawksbill sea turtles, or tartarugas-de-pente as they are known in Brazil, were born last Sunday in Paulista, a town in the north-eastern state of Pernambuco.
Continue reading...UK wildlife enjoys humans' lockdown but concerns raised over conservation
Animals are getting some peace and people are reconnecting with nature, but wildlife crimes may be going unnoticed
Moles are daring to clamber above ground to hunt for worms, oystercatchers are nesting on deserted beaches, and overlooked plants such as ivy-leaved toadflax are gaining new friends.
The shutdown of modern life as we know it is liberating British wildlife to enjoy newly depopulated landscapes. But conservationists say the impact is not all positive, with wildlife crimes going unreported and vital work including monitoring unable to be carried out.
Continue reading...You know change is in the air when the likes of Ashley and Martin back down
Strange things happen in a crisis. For one, it can dawn on Mike Ashley that pretending that a sports shop is an essential public service is absurd. Friday’s apology from the Sports Direct founder seemed to be more about communication – “ill-judged and poorly timed” emails to overworked government ministers – than his original ludicrous attempt to keep his shops open, but it was still an uncharacteristic climbdown.
Even JD Wetherspoon’s Tim Martin, who has never previously appeared to give a damn what anyone thinks, paused to consider he may have made a mistake. Having announced staff would only be paid until the moment the pubs were shut, he then said they would get their wages at the next payroll date provided the government agreed a reimbursement scheme in time.
Continue reading...Fruit and veg ‘will run out’ unless Britain charters planes to fly in farm workers from eastern Europe
UK urgently needs to fill 90,000 positions to pick crops that will otherwise die in the fields, warns charity
Charter flights to bring in agricultural workers from eastern Europe are needed as a matter of urgency, otherwise fruit and vegetables will be left unpicked in Britain’s fields, the government is being warned.
Some large farms have already been chartering planes to bring in labour from eastern Europe. But farming organisations and recruitment agencies say that, in the face of massive disruption to the agricultural sector caused by the spread of the coronavirus, the government needs to step in and help organise more flights.
Continue reading...More than 100,000 badgers slaughtered in discredited cull policy
Badger Trust condemns ‘largest destruction of a protected species in living memory’ as government admits failings and focuses on vaccination
More than 35,000 badgers were killed during last year’s cull, according to long overdue figures slipped out by the government on Friday at the height of the coronavirus crisis.
The total has dismayed animal rights campaigners, who claim that for the first time since the cull was introduced in 2013, more badgers were shot last year than cattle were slaughtered because they have bovine-TB.
Continue reading...Wildlife rescue centres struggle to treat endangered species in coronavirus outbreak
Shortages in funds, medicines and masks threaten charity work around the world
Last Thursday morning Louisa Baillie drove down the five-kilometre dirt track that connects her jungle home in the Amazon rainforest to the main road. At the junction, she parked, hiking the rest of the way into Mera, a town of about 8,000 people.
After filling her backpack with fruit and vegetables from local sellers, she grabbed some leaves and set about plucking termites off trees along the roadside, stuffing them into a bucket containing small fragments of the insects’ nests. Baillie works as a veterinarian at Merazonia, a wildlife rescue centre in Ecuador. The termites were dinner for Andy the anteater, a baby recently confiscated at a police checkpoint.
Continue reading...The week in wildlife – in pictures
The pick of the world’s best flora and fauna photos, including oryx, a slow loris, bears – and a puma on the streets of Santiago, Chile
Continue reading...The Guardian view on empty supermarket shelves: panic is not the problem
The coronavirus pandemic is beginning to expose the fragility of our food system. But will we choose long-term solutions or short-term fixes?
Until a couple of weeks ago, the idea of waiting in an Ocado queue of 73,735 shoppers, or of supermarkets rationing milk and baked beans, would have sounded like satire. For too many people in the UK, food scarcity is the norm, with mothers and fathers going hungry to ensure their children are fed. But others have grown used to an absurd abundance: strawberries and peaches in midwinter, or 20 types of mustard alongside three score of pasta. When such bounty overflows, it seems self-evident that supplies are both plentiful and reliable – until suddenly they aren’t.
In fact, warns Tim Lang in his new book, Feeding Britain, our food system is “stretched, open to disruption and far from resilient”. It is easy to castigate panic buyers for empty shelves. But while shopping responsibly will help others to get the food they need, only a few people are squirrelling away vast stocks. Research firm Kantar says the average spend per supermarket trip has risen by 16% to £22.13 month on month – not surprising when households realised they were likely to need lunches at home, including for children no longer in school, and could have to self-isolate for a fortnight.
Continue reading...Trump administration allows companies to break pollution laws during coronavirus pandemic
Extraordinary move signals to US companies that they will not face any sanctions for polluting the air or water
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has suspended its enforcement of environmental laws during the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, signaling to companies they will not face any sanction for polluting the air or water of Americans.
In an extraordinary move that has stunned former EPA officials, the Trump administration said it will not expect compliance with the routine monitoring and reporting of pollution and won’t pursue penalties for breaking these rules.
Continue reading...Wildlife charity plans to buy UK land to give it back to nature
Heal Rewilding will find lower-grade land and let it recover naturally, rather than planting
A new national wildlife charity called Heal Rewilding is planning to buy ecologically depleted land across Britain and give it back to nature.
The charity, which launches on Monday, is crowdfunding and will seek former farms, green belt or lower-grade land where wildlife can recover. The sites will be within easy reach of large towns and cities to benefit more people.
Continue reading...Coronavirus UK lockdown causes big drop in air pollution
Air quality in big cities is likely to improve even more in coming weeks, say scientists
The nationwide shutdown caused by the coronavirus outbreak has led to big drops in air pollution across the UK’s major cities, new data analysis shows.
Levels of toxic pollutants were likely to fall even further, scientists said, as traffic remained off the roads but prevailing westerly winds from the Atlantic returned. Current easterly winds are bringing additional pollution from continental Europe to Britain.
Continue reading...Rightwing thinktanks use fear of Covid-19 to fight bans on plastic bags
Articles from conservative groups argue plastic bags are safer for coronavirus than reusable bags, misrepresenting recent studies
The fight to ban plastic bags, many of which end up polluting oceans and rivers, has taken a step backward as conservative US think-tanks exploit the fear of Covid-19, campaigners have said.
Articles warning that reusable cloth bags are worse than plastic ones for spreading coronavirus have been linked to major rightwing nonprofits such as the Manhattan Institute, and contain misinformation aimed at defeating or repealing plastic bag bans, said Greenpeace USA.
Continue reading...NSW land-clearing approvals increased 13-fold since laws relaxed in 2016
Independent MP calls for approvals pause as Natural Resources Commission report shows more than 37,000ha approved last year
Land-clearing approvals in New South Wales have increased nearly 13-fold since the Coalition government relaxed laws in 2016, according to a secret report to the state cabinet by its Natural Resources Commission.
The report, marked “Cabinet in Confidence”, was commissioned by the government in January 2019 under an agreement between the Liberals and Nationals to review land clearing if applications exceeded 20,000ha a year. The commission handed it to the government in July, but released it only after the Independent MP Justin Field threatened legal action.
Continue reading...Scientists find bug that feasts on toxic plastic
Bacterium is able to break down polyurethane, which is widely used but rarely recycled
A bacterium that feeds on toxic plastic has been discovered by scientists. The bug not only breaks the plastic down but uses it as food to power the process.
The bacterium, which was found at a waste site where plastic had been dumped, is the first that is known to attack polyurethane. Millions of tonnes of the plastic is produced every year to use in items such as sports shoes, nappies, kitchen sponges and as foam insulation, but it is mostly sent to landfill because it it too tough to recycle.
Continue reading...Great Barrier Reef’s latest bleaching confirmed by marine park authority
Severity of damage has increased, with areas spared in previous years experiencing moderate or severe bleaching
The government agency responsible for the Great Barrier Reef has confirmed the natural landmark has suffered a third mass coral bleaching episode in five years, describing the damage as “very widespread”.
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority said the assessment was based on information from in-water and aerial observations, and built on the best available science and technology to understand current conditions.
Continue reading...